Vertically adjustable basketball goal

ABSTRACT

A basketball goal is carried by upper and lower pairs of parallel arms which are pivoted to a support so that the goal may be vertically adjusted by means of a flexible cable passing over a pulley carried at the top of the support. The goal is held in adjusted position by a lever which is pivotally carried by the upper arms and is spring biased so that the lower end of the lever is normally held against selected, spaced stop means carried by the support. The cable passes through an eyelet carried by the lever whereby the lever may be selectively moved out of engagement with the stop means.

United States Patent 2,881,003 4/1959 Drew 3.462,102 8/1969 Rivers.

ABSTRACT: A basketball goal is carried by upper and lower pairs ofparallel arms which are pivoted to a support so that the goal may bevertically adjusted by means of a flexible cable passing over a pulleycarried at the top of the support. The goal is held in adjusted positionby a lever which is pivotally carried by the upper arms and is springbiased so that the lower end of the lever is normally held againstselected, spaced stop means carried by the support. The cable passesthrough an eyelet carried by the lever whereby the lever may beselectively moved out of engagement with the stop means.

PATENTEO JUN22 IQYI FIG. I

BENHARD M. BEARSON INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY FIG.3

\"ERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE BASKETBALL GOAL I BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to basketball goals and more particularly it hasreference to basketball goal which may be adjusted vertically. Onregulation basketball courts the basket is positioned at a height whichIS much too high for use by children so that they are unable to developproper playing skills. On a playground, a basketball goal of a fixedheight will not accommodate all of the children of a wide range ofheights who desire to play the game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is toprovide a relatively simple yet efficient structure for moving abasketball goal vertically into selected adjusted position. Otherobjects are to provide such a structure which can be produced at aminimum cost by performing relatively simple mechanical operations onmaterial which is widely available; and to provide a goal which can beadjusted easily and safely held in adjusted position.

According to the invention, upper and lower pairs of parallel arms arepivotally connected at their respective ends to a vertical supportmember and a front member which carries the backboard and hoop. The goalis held in adjusted vertical position by means ofa lever which ispivotally carried between the upper pair of arms and extends downwardlyand inwardly into operative engagement with stop means which are spacedvertically along the support member. A spring connected to the lowerpair of arms and the upper end of the lever normally urges the lower endof the lever into engagement with the stop means. The goal may be movedvertically by means ofa flexible cable which is fastened to the lowerportion of the front member and extends upwardly over a pulley at theupper part of the support member and thence downwardly through an eyeletcarried by the lever adjacent its lower end portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a basketballgoal embodying the invention, with parts broken away.

FIG. 2 is a view, on an enlarged scale, taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of theinvention is shown in the drawings wherein indicates a vertical supportmember which may be attached by suitable means to a post, wall of abuilding or the like. The support member 10 which is U- shaped in crosssection and has the two sides 11 and 12 may conveniently be formed ofstock material such as channel iron. Forwardly extending upper arm meanscomprising a pair of parallel arms 13 and 14 are pivoted, respectively,at the sides 11 and 12 at the upper portion of member 10 by means of thepin 15. The forward end portions of arms 13 and 14 are pivoted,respectively, at the sides 16 and 17 of the front member 18 by means ofthe pin 19. Similarly, the lower arm means comprise the pair of parallelarms 20 and 21 which have their rear ends pivoted, respectively, at thesides 11 and 12 by the pin 22 and their forward ends pivotedrespectively, to the sides 16 and 17 of member 18 by the pin 23.

Fixedly secured to the from member 18 by any suitable means such as arms24 is the backboard 25 on which is mounted the hoop or basket 26. Sincethe front member 18 and the fixed support member I0 are pivotallyconnected to the upper and lower parallel arms l3, l4 and 20, 21, thehoop 26 will move vertically with the movement of the front member 18.The front member is moved vertically by means of a flexible cable, suchas a rope 27. which has one end secured to the eyelet 28 at the lowerpart of member 18 and extends upwardly and over a pulley 29 mounted atthe upper part of support member 10. The front member 18 and theattached backboard 25 and hoop 26 are held in adjusted vertical positionby means of the lever 30 which has its upper end pivotally mounted bymeans of pin 31 between the upperpair ofarms l3 and 14 Biasing meanssuch as coil spring 32 has its lower end secured to pin 33 between thearms 20, 21 and its upper end secured at 34 to the upper end of lever30. The spring 32 normally acts to move a part such as end portion 35carried by the lever 30 into operative engagement with the stop meansformed by a plurality of rods or pins 36 which extend between the sides11 and 12 of support member 10 and are vertically spaced along thismember.

As indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1, the goal comprising the backboard25 and attached loop 26 may be selectively moved up and down. Pullingdownwardly on the rope 27 will cause the pivoted parallel arms to moveupwardly to thereby raise the front member 18 and the attached backboardand hoop 26. As the arms 13 and 14 turn about pivot pin 15 and moveupwardly, the lever 30 also moves upwardly with its lower end 35 ridingover the rod stop means 36 until a selected position is reached and thelever 30 acts to hold the goal in such position. The rope 27 passesdownwardly from the pulley 29 through opening means carried by the lever30 such as the eyelet 37 supported at one side oflever 30.

To lower the goal, the rope 27 is pulled downwardly and also forwardlyaway from the support member 10. Since the rope 27 passes through theeyelet 37 carried by lever 30, such manipulation of the rope will freethe end 35 of lever 30 from engagement with stop means 36. With thelever 30 held in such position, tension on the rope 27 may be releasedin such a manner as to permit the goal to move downwardly to a selectedposition. The rope is then moved rearwardly to permit the end 35 oflever 30 to engage one of the stop means 36 and thereby hold the goal infixed, adjusted position.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the invention provides arelatively simple, yet efficient means for selectively adjusting abasketball goal in a vertical direction. The support member 10 can bemade from standard channel iron and the parallel arms, lever and frommember can be made of such standard material as steel tubing. Hence, theentire structure can be made and assembled with a minimum of mechanicaloperations and thereby reduce manufacturing costs. When in adjustedposition, the goal is securely held without reliance upon the looseningor tightening of wing nuts, for example, which are employed in some ofthe prior art structures. Various modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as pointed out in theappended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A basketball goal comprising a fixed vertical support member, a frontmember, upper arm means and lower arm means extending between the twomembers, the end portions of the upper and lower arm means beingpivotally connected to the respectively adjacent members, a backboardand attached hoop carried by the front member, means for raising andlowering the from member and the attached backboard and hoop comprisinga pulley carried at the upper portion of the support member, a flexiblecable having one end secured to the front member and extending upwardlyover the pulley and thence downwardly, means for selectively holding thefront member and attached backboard in adjusted vertical positioncomprising vertically spaced stop means carried by the support member, alever having an end portion pivotally carried by the upper arm means andextending downwardly and inwardly towards the support member, andbiasing means normally urging a part carried by the lower end portion ofthe lever into operative engagement with said stop means, means carriedby the lever for providing an opening, said cable extending downwardlyfrom the pulley and through said opening whereby the part carried by thelower end portion of the lever may be selectively moved out of operativeengagement with the stop means.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein the vertical support memberis U-shaped in cross section, the stop means comprise spaced rodsextending between the sides of the support member and the lower portionof the lever carries an eyelet down through which the flexible cableextends.

1. A basketball goal comprising a fixed vertical support member, a frontmember, upper arm means and lower arm means extending between the twomembers, the end portions of the upper and lower arm means beingpivotally connected to the respectively adjacent members, a backboardand attached hoop carried by the front member, means for raising andlowering the front member and the attached backboard and hoop comprisinga pulley carried at the upPer portion of the support member, a flexiblecable having one end secured to the front member and extending upwardlyover the pulley and thence downwardly, means for selectively holding thefront member and attached backboard in adjusted vertical positioncomprising vertically spaced stop means carried by the support member, alever having an end portion pivotally carried by the upper arm means andextending downwardly and inwardly towards the support member, andbiasing means normally urging a part carried by the lower end portion ofthe lever into operative engagement with said stop means, means carriedby the lever for providing an opening, said cable extending downwardlyfrom the pulley and through said opening whereby the part carried by thelower end portion of the lever may be selectively moved out of operativeengagement with the stop means.
 2. The structure recited in claim 1wherein the vertical support member is U-shaped in cross section, thestop means comprise spaced rods extending between the sides of thesupport member and the lower portion of the lever carries an eyelet downthrough which the flexible cable extends.